Jobs One, Two and Three for Lifelong Health

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By the time you are reading this article, the stakes establishing the life course of your health have long been set. Your genetic inheritance, location, and family circumstances, combined with a complex set of early life factors determine how your health trajectory will begin. Through childhood and adulthood, you have opportunities to influence your well-being, but in the grand scheme, it’s tinkering at the margins. As you age, the question becomes, what can you do to maximize good health and minimize the impact of the inevitable decline?

Taking good care to avoid the obvious pitfalls is job number one. Parents need to teach children about safety as early in life as possible. And everyone needs to practice safety daily and for all time. If you are smoking, you have failed. If poisons, weapons, or other dangerous items are in reach of children, correct the situation immediately. Practice the basics daily, like looking both ways when you cross the street.

Using common sense isn’t enough. We need to accept the extraordinary role of luck in our lives – for better or for worse. That said, you can influence your luck if you work at it. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case with your health. Empathy is owed to those who have done the right things and still get delt the bad luck of a terminal cancer diagnosis. It’s not fair when tragedy strikes.

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